Vegas Moms Sunscreen Tips and Facts

Vegas Moms Clairin DeMartini shares her top tips and facts on Sunscreen for the Whole Family! Moms, you must apply ALL of your knowledge about sunscreen to protect your family. We are here to help you break it all down and give tips and facts to help you make the best choices for your family.

Vegas Moms Sunscreen Tips and Facts

Where does our Vegas Mom Squad go for Sunscreen Facts? The Environmental Working Group releases an annual sunscreen guide that breaks it all down, they even have an app! The EWG’s 2013 Guide to Safer Sunscreens reminds us parents to “Be Safe in the Sun this Summer.” The May 2013 EWG recommends 184 beach & sport sunscreens to meet EWG’s criteria. While there are more than 184 products available on the market, read “9 Surprising Facts About Sunscreen” to examine the criteria the EWG uses to guide their recommendations. I particularly found point #7 Some sunscreen ingredients disrupt hormones and cause skin allergies relevant for me and my children.

Cover all exposed areas of skin. Protect all areas not shielded by clothing.

Portion your product. The AAD recommends, “one ounce, enough to fill a shot glass” (adjust for body size). The AAD reports that most people only apply 25-50% of the recommended amount of sunscreen to their bodies.

NOTE: The AAD does not recommend sunscreen for infants under the age of 6 months. Babies have much more sensitive skin than adults and sunscreen should be avoided if possible.

Sun! Sun! Sun! If you want to ensure fun this summer, be ready to protect you and your families’ skin. The Las Vegas Valley has 320 days of sun annually. So let’s build your Sun Protection Factor (SPF) knowledge and awareness of products to care for your skin for each season.

Vegas Moms Sunscreen Tips and Facts

Vegas Families Know Summer Sun Safety: SPF IQ

Get ready to build your SPF intelligence quotient. When do I need a sunscreen? SPF is important. The American Academy of Dermatology reports over 3.5 million skin cancers diagnosed in more than 2 million people each year. The AAD recommends the use of sunscreen to protect people of all skin types from the sun and prevent the development of many skin cancers.

SPF does not measure how well a sunscreen will protect from UVA, ultraviolet A (long-wave) rays, which cause cumulative damage over time. UVA is the tanning ray; the results injure the skin’s DNA as it darkens in an attempt to prevent further DNA damage. Unfortunately, this process can lead to skin cancer.

Vegas Families Know Summer Sun Safety: Best Sunscreen Products

With these three facts in mind, products that have full-spectrum coverage are not all alike. Be savvy and check the product’s ingredients. For a recommended list of sunscreens check out the Environmental Working Group’s 2013 Guide to Sunscreen recommended sunscreen.

The most common sunscreens on the market contain chemical filters. These products typically include a combination of three to six of these active ingredients: oxybenzone, avobenzone, octisalate, octocrylene, homosalate and octinoxate.

Investigate the ingredients. For example, several sunscreen chemicals indicate that they may mimic hormones and disrupt the hormone system (Krause, 2012).

Avoid oxybenzone. 80% of chemical sunscreens include oxybenzone. Oxybenzone is an endocrine disruptor which can affect the nervous system, has been linked to cancer in some laboratory studies, and creates free-radicals when exposed to the sun which are harmful. Oxybenzone can penetrate the skin, cause allergic skin reactions and may disrupt hormones.

Our Vegas Mom, Clairin DeMartini, has been an amazing asset to VegasFamilyEvents.com. Her indepth articles and research has added such strength to our articles! Clairin is mother to adorable boy/girl twins and finds time to work with her mother in the Real Estate industry. Please visit their blog site for great gardening tips only a true local Master Gardener (her mother) can give!

Awesome post! I just learned something new about sunscreen. We usually use coconut oil because my oldest always has a reaction off of most sunscreens. We put it on once and only have to reapply it if they get out of the pool and wipe off. Plus it has healing properties in it.

Graphic Design and Web services for Vegas Family Events provided by:

Meet the Team!

We're excited to be your new connection to what's happening in Las Vegas and beyond. As time allows, we will be introducing ourselves and sharing more about our families (besides us, they currently consist of all boys) and ourselves!
Thanks for letting us guide you! Nannette & Emily

We’re Fueled by SPARK!

Vegas Family Events & Magazine is not responsible for calendar entries. Double check all events before you go as we are not notified of any event updates or cancellations.